The Next Chapter
by Chloeap1997
Summary: A small glimpse into the lives of Abby and Connor after series five. Their ups and downs after the events of new dawn.
1. Chapter 1

**So the first couple of chapters are flashbacks (with possibly an added detail or two) to set the scene for the rest of the fic. Enjoy!**

'You have to come back'

'Why?' Said Connor, tears streaming down his face. He knew he would only slow them down, and he wasn't going to let Abby or Matt sacrifice themselves for him. Abby's eyes overspilled and tears streamed down her face. 'Because,' she leant forward and whispered in a tiny voice, so even Matt couldn't hear. 'When we're back, and this is over, I want to marry you. Besides, our baby is not going to grow up without a daddy'

Realisation swept Connor's damp face.

'Really?' Abby nodded, and the pair came together in an emotional embrace.

'Now stop messing around, and help us' demanded Abby, handing Connor his EMD.


	2. Chapter 2

'Connor'

'Yep?'

'Temple' A moment of silence, and a stare full of sadness and love.

'Will you marry me?'

**And now we can get to the rest of the story!**


	3. Chapter 3

'I HATE BEING PREGNANT!' Abby yelled, as she straightened up and gave up on trying to pick up a pen she'd dropped. 'AND I HATE BEING STUCK IN THIS DAMN LAB' She slammed her fist down on her counter top, earning herself a look of sheer terror from Rex as he flew off into the menagerie from her lab. Ever since everyone had found out, she hadn't been allowed on any missions, and was confined to her lab most of the time. She felt so useless. 'Sorry Rex' she said, tickling him under his chin as he returned to her desk. 'I know it's for the best, and I couldn't bear it if anything happened to baby, but how do they expect me to feel when Connor and the rest of the team are out there and I can't do anything to help. You know what I mean? No, of course you don't. Your biggest worry in life is when your next meal is' she said, smiling down at him. Sometimes it felt like Rex was the only person she could talk to, everyone else just blamed her emotions on the pregnancy hormones, which didn't exactly help the situation. 


	4. Chapter 4

'It's just the pregnancy hormones' was Connor's predictable reply when she tried to talk to him on the car ride home.

'Stop saying that! I can have feelings you know, I'm not brain dead just because I'm having a baby'. Connor stopped the car and undid his seatbelt, turning to face his fiancée.

'It's not long to go now Abs, only a few weeks, you'll feel miles better once you're back and you can go out on missions again. You'll see' he said, reaching out to touch her oversized bump, but she batted his hand away.

'I'm not sure I will Connor. It isn't just work. Things haven't been right between us for ages now and you know it.' Connor looked hurt. Abby hated this, but it needed to be said. 'Maybe we should just spend a little time apart. I need to collect my thoughts'

'Are you breaking up with me?' Said Connor, panic in his voice; he couldn't lose her.

'No, of course not, I just need some space' she replied, refusing to look into his eyes. Connor's hand instinctively flew to the automatic lock button, but he was too late. She'd already got out. He couldn't let her leave, so he jumped out and ran after her. Luckily she couldn't walk very fast, being eight months pregnant and all.

'Please. We haven't spent more than 24 hours apart since before the Cretaceous, you can't do this. We need to sort things out.' He pleaded

'And that's exactly why I need to go.' Abby replied, a tear rolling down her cheek as she waved a taxi.

'But where are you going to go?' He cried 'Jess', I'll be fine, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?' She said, her voice shaking as she got into the taxi, without so much as a kiss on the cheek.

'...yeah.' But she'd already gone.


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as he got to work, Connor rushed towards the menagerie. He needed to sort it out with Abby. He got out of the elevator and hurried with a nervous speed towards Abby's lab, but just as he was about to reach the door, the anomaly alert sounded. Connor stood, debating with himself whether to carry on to speak to Abby or head to the hub. His thoughts were interrupted when Abby came hurrying out of her lab and crashed straight into Connor.

'Sorr-' she looked down at her feet 'Connor...'

'Abby...we need to...I mean...ugh...it's just' He got progressively more annoyed with himself until he eventually gave up, and they stood in awkward silence.

'Connor! Are you going to stand there all day?' She said, huffily.

'S-sorry.' He moved aside. They spent what was probably 3 minutes but felt like 5 hours in the elevator.

'Abby. What's happening between us?'

'Now's not the time, we'll talk later, yeah?'

'You can't go out to the anomaly!'

'I'm not, Jess said she'd let me help at the hub, I needed to get out of the menagerie. Lester said I need to spend the least amount of time in there as I can; we don't know if the animals could be carrying anything dangerous.'

'Then you need to stop straight away!'

'Relax Con, I've tested them all, and they're all automatically fed anyway, so I don't really have that much contact anyway. Just stop fussing'


	6. Chapter 6

'Then the co-ordinates show up here in the top left corner, and you click this icon to go to where all the different team member's black box signals are'

'Right'

'Are you feeling alright? You look really clammy- yes, Becker, second door on your left, the anomaly is in there, I hacked the security camera, I can't see an incursion- Abby, are you sure you're okay?' Abby nodded 'You look really pale, maybe you should go to the medical bay, just to be safe' remarked a worried Jess.

Abby swayed, 'I think I'm just hungry, I'll be fine in a minute.' But as she said it, she crumpled. Luckily she fell forwards, towards Jess, who managed to catch her, and slowly lower her down to the ground, before calling for a medic.

'Yes, Becker, you've closed it? Brilliant! Connor, you'd better get back here- now. It's Abby.'

'Oh my God! She hasn't gone into labour has she? She's not due for another month! I'm taking one of the cars, Becker. How's the traffic Jess? Find me a route, the fastest one you can.'

By now, the medics had arrived and lifted Abby onto a stretcher, and taken her to a medical bay.

When Connor got to the medical bay, the doctor tried weakly to stop him from going into her private bay, but it wasn't much use, he knew Connor would push past him anyway. He crumpled when he saw her pale figure. There were dark circles under her eyes and, despite the large pregnancy bump, she looked thin and frail. Connor felt so helpless as he stared down at her.

'What's going on, doc?'

'We think it's a bacterial infection, contracted from one of the animals probably. We're still running tests. We did an ultrasound and the baby is fine. The bacteria seems to have attacked her immune system, so she's not coping with everyday illnesses as well as she should be, and her blood pressure is far too low'

'But she said she'd tested them all... I don't understand'

'She wouldn't have known to test for this particular bacteria, it's completely unique to anything from our time. Hopefully antibiotics will help'

'What if not? What will happen then?' Connor's eyes were welling up and his eyes never strayed from Abby's rising and falling chest and stomach.

'In that case, we'd have to perform a C-section, which obviously wouldn't be ideal at only 8 months, but would be safer than the baby staying put, both for the baby and Abby herself. Then we'd get a sample of the bacteria from whichever animal has passed it on and try to create an effective antibiotic, kind of like an anti venom.'

'And that would work?'

'I don't see why not' came the doctor's reply.


	7. Chapter 7

Connor rarely left Abby's bedside. There had been no anomalies over the past three days, so Connor hadn't been needed and Lester had granted him time off for as long as Abby was ill. Abby's ice cold fingers twitched in Connor's. Her eyes started to flutter. 'Abby?' He whispered 'nurse!' He yelled 'I think she's waking up!' He turned back to see that Abby's eyes were open and she was trying to sit up, she looked round, confused and scared.

'Woah, easy, lie back, there' he reassured her

'What happened?' Cried Abby, her hand instinctively flying to her stomach, where Connor's hand landed on top of it in comfort.

'The baby's fine. You've caught an illness from one of the creatures, it's been affecting your immune system'

'But I tested them all. I thought I was safe'

'They said you wouldn't have caught this one in the tests. But it's fine. You're awake now so it looks like the antibiotics are working'

'What do you mean, I'm awake now?' She asked, her eyes widening.

'Abby, you've been out of it for three days'

'Three days!'

'I've been worried sick. I haven't even been home. Please, don't ever do this to me again'

'I'll try my best' she replied, some colour returning to her cheeks 'Connor I'm so sorry about the things I said. We can work it out, all of it. We can fix this'

'I know we can. I love you. And I love you' he grinned, directing his voice towards her protruding stomach.

'I love you both too'


	8. Chapter 8

The midwife handed an exhausted Abby her little bundle of joy as Connor bent down to kiss her damp forehead. The antibiotics had done their job and after four weeks of medication to increase her blood pressure, the doctors had given her the green light to go ahead with a natural delivery.

'You got a boy' said the nurse, with a smile. The pair had never been happier, and huge smiles erupted on their faces. 'Do you have any ideas for names?' Abby shot a knowing look and a jerk of the head towards Connor to approve their first choice name (providing baby suited it)

'We think we'll go with Nick. Nick Steven Ryan Temple'

'Wow, two middle names' she replied 'We couldn't decide between them' he said, his cheeks actually beginning to ache from smiling so much. One of the midwives went to write a birth certificate, while the other finished cleaning up Abby.

Connor leant in to Abby and in a quiet voice unheard to the midwife, he joked 'you know, last time we left this hospital we had two Diictadons, a baby seems a bit... Boring, doesn't it?' Abby laughed and leaned in for a kiss. He kissed baby nick on the head too.

'Are you sure you don't want to put 'Tom' in there?'

'He can't have three middle names! Maybe the next one?' He said, cocking an eyebrow.

'Hang on, Captain Ryan's first name wasn't Ryan, it's just what we knew him by, how on earth did we forget that! His first name was Tom, remember! It can mean two people'

'That's brilliant!'

'Go, chase after the midwife, we don't want the wrong name down on the certificate!' And with that Connor dashed out of the room.

He ran down the corridor and crashed into no other than Becker.

'What're you doing here?' Asked Becker

'Abby's had the baby' he said with a grin, which quickly dropped when his gaze lowered to Becker's military uniform and EMD, 'but that's not why you're here, is it?'

'Unfortunately not...' Becker replied 'but don't worry!' He quickly added as he threw up two hands in a defensive position, in response to Connor's horrified expression 'we think it's the same one as last time reopening, hopefully we'll just get something cute and fluffy through again.' Came Becker's deep, reassuring voice.

'Well strictly speaking Diictadons aren't exactly... You don't really care do you?' He said as Becker shook his head in disbelief.

'You go and look after Abby and...' He tailed off

'Nick! You know, after Cutter' Connor replied in response. Becker handed Connor the smallest EMD and patted him on the shoulder, before smiling and jogging off down the corridor, eager to take control of the situation.

Abby heard a squeaking. It sounded just like... No... Surely not... Although, it would make sense... This is where they came the first time... She put a sleeping baby Nick into the little glass cot by her bed and (very slowly and painfully) leant over the side of her bed and looked underneath. She just saw a brown and green tail slipping through a hole in the wall. Just at that moment Connor burst through the door.

'What on earth are you doing hanging over like that, get back in bed right now!' He demanded, rushing over and pulling her gently into bed.

'Stop fussing, I'm fine' she said, wincing.

'Sorry' he said gently, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

'I trust they're dealing with it?'

'With what?' Connor replied, innocently

'You can't fool me Connor! I know the anomaly's reopened, I just saw a Diictadon!'

'Fine' he said, grinning, 'the team's here, everything's under control'

'Did you catch up with the midwife?'

'Oops...'


	9. Chapter 9

Nick was screaming through the monitor.

'I'm on it' came Connor's groggy voice from under the covers as Abby made a move. He dragged himself out of bed towards the adjoining nursery and staggered through the door. He whipped Nick out of bed and cradled him for a minute or so, before lying him down and changing him. By now, Connor could practically complete this sequence without opening his eyes once, it had become second nature. When he'd finished, he gave Nick a quick kiss and put him into his cot which, of course, had a plush dinosaur teddy at the foot-end of it. He turned around to leave and found Abby leaning against the doorframe, a weak smile across her face. She threw her arms around Connor, before kissing him passionately.

'What was that for?'

'For being a wonderful man. I love you'

'I love you too'


	10. Chapter 10

'Maybe we should just elope' joked Abby, as she watched Connor warming a pot of baby food with Nick resting on his bare hip. They were supposed to be planning the wedding, but hadn't got very far because of their 10 month old's constant needs.

'No way! I want everyone there' Connor whined.

'I was only joking! Maybe Jess and Becker could take this little troublemaker for the day for the day, then we can concentrate? I'll call her. They need to get some practise in for the future' she winked.

Once Jess and Becker had picked up Nick (and endured a twenty minute lecture from Connor on how to fit a car seat and declined his offer of, once again, demonstrating how to buckle Nick into his seat) they left Abby and Connor in peace.

'What about roses?

'I liked the lilies'

'Maybe we should just leave the centrepieces, we don't really need them.'

'But I want it to be perfect!' Connor whined

'Oh, we're never going to be able to agree, I never thought this would be so stressful'

'It's such a shame that not everyone will be around to watch us, won't it?' Said Connor, distractedly 'Cutter, Stephen, Captain Ryan, Sarah...'

'They'll be there in spirit' Abby replied, closing the laptop and resting her head on Connor's shoulder. 'Hey, seeing as Nick's out of the way, you know what I'd really like to do?'

Connor lifted an eyebrow and stared down at her, 'what?'

'Have a nap!' She laughed. Ten minutes later they were fast asleep together on the sofa, her head still on Connor's shoulder and his arm around hers.


	11. Chapter 11

Abby felt really sick. It was finally here, all the planning and the fittings and the money. She just hoped it would go planned. As long as it wasn't a repeat of Jenny's wedding. Her palms were sweaty and her legs were like jelly.

'I'm so nervous!' She cried.

'You're not having doubts are you?' Replied a worried Jess

'No, of course not. I'm just nervous that's all'

Duncan stood proudly at Connor's side. Jess and Emily preceded Abby down the aisle; Jess carrying Nick. Connor took a sneaky look behind him. Abby was wearing a trailing, strapless white dress, and was being given away by her brother, Jack. Connor had started to well up already. After what felt like hours waiting for her to reach him, she stood proudly by Connor's side.

'You look beautiful' he whispered

'You don't look too bad yourself' she grinned.

After the ceremony came the reception, and of course, the speeches. Duncan's came first. He stood up from his seat beside Connor and cleared his throat.

'I've known Connor for twelve years now. Me, him, and Tom. That was our gang. As a few of you will know we lost Tom right years ago to a d-' A elbow to the thigh from Connor made Duncan realise what he was saying. 'To a devastating lung infection. I think Tom would've been really happy to be here today, and he probably was, I mean in spirit. There's actually a lot of scientific evidence recently that dead spirits could actually be very...' He tailed off as he looked around at people's confused faces 'never mind. The main thing is, we are here to celebrate this happy family and their future together. To Abby and Connor'

'Abby and Connor' everyone repeated as they clinked glasses and took sips of their drinks.

'That was really nice mate. Thanks. You can tell me about those dead spirits later too' said Connor as he smiled and patted his friend's shoulder. Connor turned back to look at Abby and was about to talk to her when Becker stood up and tapped his knife against his glass. Everyone looked up at him, and those who knew Becker looked around at each other, silently trying to work out if the others knew what was happening. Becker cleared his throat.

'I know I'm not the best man or anything, but I wanted to make a speech, if that's alright with you two' he nodded towards Abby and Connor who encouraged him to carry on. 'I first met Abby and Connor six years ago. I had recently returned from Afghanistan and I was feeling really lost. But Abby and Connor, along with some others, welcomed me as part of the family. Since then I have considered you as my family. As your friend, colleague and godfather to your son, I wish you both all the happiness in the world. To Abby and Connor.'

Abby and Connor found their way over to Becker after the meal.

'That was a really lovely speech you made earlier. Thank you' said Abby sweetly, giving Becker a hug.

'Never thought of you as one for sentimental gestures' teased Connor before pulling Becker into a man hug and wandering off to find Duncan.

'You might want to go and ask Jess to dance before someone steals her away' teased Abby.

'What?! Who?!' He replied

'She seems to have made quite an impression on young Duncan' Abby laughed 'and I might have caught my darling brother staring once or twice too'

'Point taken. See you later' Becker said hurriedly, before dashing off and pulling Jess onto the dance floor.

Connor returned to Abby with Nick clinging onto him like a limpet.

'I think it's going to be good, you know'

'What?'

'Us. Our little family. Nick'll be fighting dinosaurs before you know it' he laughed. 'I love you, Mrs Temple'

'I love you, Mr Temple' she grinned. They awkwardly maneuvered around Nick for a kiss before Emily wandered over to carry Nick away so that the couple could have their first dance.


End file.
